UCLA Unveils State of the Art Medical Center

Monday, June 04, 2007

By Amy Powell

LOS ANGELES, June 4, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- UCLA marks a major milestone Monday as it unveils its new state of the art medical center.

It is a ten-story structure named in honor of the late President Ronald Reagan.

It will be several months before the hospital will be ready to take patients, but UCLA is celebrating the completion of the construction of this new facility. The building is being called a technological masterpiece. Perhaps equally important is that it is earthquake safe.

The new center was designed by the world famous architect I.M. Pei and his son. The center is very impressive, featuring 520 patient rooms. The facility is actually three hospitals under one roof, including the UCLA Medical Center, the Children's Hospital and the Neuropsychiatric Hospital.

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged the existing UCLA Medical Center, the state passed new safety guidelines and this center has been built to meet those standards

Dr. Edward McCabe, Chief Physician at the UCLA Children's Hospital: "Well in the Mattel Children's Hospital we provide world class care and now we have a world class facility to provide that care in. It is family-centered, child-friendly. The state of the art technology is just incredible, I think you saw one of the operating rooms. There are flat screens all over the place. Every room in the new hospital is equivalent of an ICU room now in our current hospital. And our ICU rooms in the new hospital are like operating rooms, everything comes out of the ceiling on booms and you can circulate 360 degrees around the patients in the ICU rooms. So we're really going to be able to provide state of the art care."

It is going to be a few months before the medical center will be ready to accept patients.

Dr. Edward McCabe, Chief Physician at the UCLA Children's Hospital: "We're excited to give the world a chance to see this new facility. This is the first 21st century hospital to really be planned and opened, so it's technology that's just incredible."

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be attending the dedication ceremony at 10 a.m.

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